Seniors
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
A7
G RANT C OUNTY S ENIORS
John Day
Seniors
Nicky Essex
Monday, Sept. 11, remem-
bering this day in 2001. A very
hard day for so many still. We
have not forgotten, as the won-
derful song says, “Where were
you when the world stopped
turning?” A heart-stopping mo-
ment, for certain.
But that day, I was at the
greeter’s desk, checking in our
friends for lunch. Our sweet
friends from the Lutheran
Church, Bonnie and Francis
Kocis, Jeanette Kile, Bobbie
and Buzz Gilmore were here to
serve us for lunch.
Francis and Bonnie did de-
liveries in John Day and Can-
yon City while Marcus Perkins
from Step Forward took the Mt.
Vernon route. They took 33 reg-
ular meals and 24 frozen meals
altogether to some very grateful
friends. Buzz Gilmore opened
our time by leading us in the
pledge to our American flag.
Don Porter won the drawing for
a free meal. Gene Essex won
the Len’s Drug certificate, and
Jeanette Kile won the Harrison
Ranch Produce coupon to be re-
deemed at the Saturday market.
Veanne began announce-
ments, with a big thanks to Mo
and Lisa Delano for taking our
broken refrigerator to the dump.
She also reminded us about the
upcoming class. There are still a
couple of free spots in “Living
well with Chronic Conditions
Workshop” to begin in mid-Oc-
tober. For information, call
Veanne at 541-575-2949. Also,
as you know, Linda has been
renovating our library. It has
re-opened, and it looks great.
Welcome to newcomer, Margot
Henniger White.
Thursday, Sept. 14, Drew
Harmer and Jeanette Jul-
srud served as greeters, and
our friends from Cornerstone
Church were here to serve, in-
cluding Linda Sprouffske, Zola
Pike, Carla Anderson, Donna
Mulder and Pastor Levi Manit-
sas. Brenda and Jay Taramasso
made meal deliveries to John
Day and Canyon City, and Rod-
ney Bruser from Step Forward
did the Mt. Vernon route, alto-
gether delivering 36 meals.
After the flag salute, our
drawings went to Jim Stovall
for the Valley View meal, Pat
Amling got the Chester’s Thrift-
way gift certificate and Jeanne
Willey won the Harrison Ranch
Produce certificate.
Veanne informed us that it
was National Cream Filled Do-
nut Day. She also told us about
money available for first-time
buyers. And Monument’s cele-
bration on Sept. 23 open to all.
Pastor Levi asked the bless-
ing on our meal, and we chowed
down. Our entrée, chicken a la
king, was sponsored by Re-
deemer Lutheran Church. We
enjoyed one of my favorites,
pea salad, veggies and Lisa’s
surprise dessert.
Thursday, we’ll have dev-
iled sausages with rice (a recipe
from Shay’s Greek wife, Anna).
I can’t wait. And on Monday,
Sept. 25, linguine with clam
sauce, salad and baguettes.
Don’t forget bingo on Thurs-
days right after lunch. The $200
prize is sure to be won pretty soon.
If you want to be certain of bingo,
call the center, 541-575-2949.
1 Peter 4:8-10 “Above all,
love each other deeply, because
love covers over a multitude of
sins. Offer hospitality to one an-
other without grumbling. Each
of you should use whatever gift
you have received to serve oth-
ers, as faithful stewards of God’s
grace in its various forms.”
Monument
Seniors
Soo Yukawa
The weather sure has
changed drastically. Could it
be possible that we are head-
ing into fall weather? It would
certainly be most welcome
since this week we are cel-
ebrating the second annual
Buckaroo and Fall Festival.
Don’t forget, this Saturday,
Sept. 23, is our great cele-
bration of saying goodbye
to summer and enjoying the
fall harvest. The much-antic-
ipated day is arriving quick-
ly. Judy Harris gave some
people, along with myself,
a sneak peak at some of the
goodies to be auctioned. My,
my, my, they are nice.
The event will begin at
noon. There will be a beer
garden at the park and other
snack and lunch items avail-
able. The auctions will be
before the dinner. The dinner
starts at 5 p.m. There will be
pies and cakes to be auctioned
off during the dinner time. Be
prepared and bring some mon-
ey with you so you’ll be able
to get that special item you
just have to have. My mouth
is watering at the thought of
the yummy salmon and elk
dinner, and I’m rubbing my
hands thinking of some of
those auction items. Hope to
see you all there.
For our Tuesday lunch,
Terry Cade and Carrie Jew-
ell prepared for us some very
delicious creamy chicken
Parmesan noodle dish, with a
fresh green salad and brown-
ies for dessert. Thank you,
Terry and Carrie, for our tasty
meal.
Our greeters were Bodean
Andersen, Jimmy Cole and
Linda Blakeslee. Bodean led
us in the flag salute, made the
announcements and prayed
the blessing over our meal.
Jimmy and Linda collected
and counted the money. The
winners of the free meal tick-
ets were Bruce Kramer and
yours truly. We had 40 guests
on the books and 10 takeouts.
We thank all the people who
volunteer at the lunch from
the board, the cooks, the
greeters, the people cleaning
and others who work behind
the scenes to make our senior
center as nice as it is for all the
community and surrounding
communities to enjoy.
My family and I decid-
ed to try and travel to the
Tri-Cities area to do our
shopping. I didn’t really like
driving on the gravel road to
Sunflower Flats. It seemed
to take forever. The stores
were a lot easier to get to
instead of driving from one
end of town to the other and
all over like in Bend. We
found a Japanese restaurant,
and we got our Asian food
and sushi fix. It was a bit on
the pricey side. We found
Costco, Wal-Mart and the
Cash N Carry.
We only had one big prob-
lem during our trip. I was
driving while my hubby was
navigating. (I’m directionally
challenged, ha.) The two-mile
stretch just before getting
back to the Oregon border
was really bumpy. I comment-
ed that the road was horrible.
My wise hubby then asked if
it was the road or our vehicle?
To be continued ...
Ephesians 6:19 “And for
me, that utterance may be giv-
en unto me, that I may open
my mouth boldly, to make
known the mystery of the gos-
pel.”
Prairie City
Seniors
Rose Coombs
Hey, Friday the 13th came
on Wednesday this month.
And it was an almost perfect
day, weather-wise. We didn’t
have to turn on the swamp
cooler, and we didn’t have to
run the heater either.
Have you noticed – when
the smoke cleared off – that
there were two small patches
of snow on Strawberry? As
Eliza Doolittle said, “That
’ardly ever ’appens.” Appar-
ently it was a good year for
zucchini. Another big supply
appeared from the Phippens’
garden with any size or color
you might want.
The food for thought
from Tom: “No matter how
big government gets, and no
matter how many services it
provides, it can never take the
place of volunteers.” – Ron-
ald Reagan. So we thank the
volunteers who help make
our center run. And we can
always use more.
Frances led the flag salute,
and Jack asked the bless-
ing. Larry and Ken made the
home deliveries, and Ginger
and Carla dispensed the juic-
es and milks. Since it was
Nancy Vigger’s 87th birth-
day, we sang a rousing ren-
dition of happy birthday to
her. Then Tom presented her
with a piece of cake with –
not a candle – but a lit wood-
en match. Couldn’t find the
candles. Oh well. The substi-
tute got the job done in fine
style.
Tom and Marjean pre-
pared another lip-smacking
feast for us consisting of
macaroni and cheese with
hot dog pieces, veggie/noo-
dle stir-fry, coleslaw, garlic
bread and banana cake for
dessert. Saw lots going back
for second helpings. Krystin
and Shauntele brought Otho
Laurance, Alma Joslin, Mar-
ilyn Randall, Joan Metlock
and Bud Salisbury from the
Blue Mountain Care Center.
The site committee had
a meeting after the meal.
Brought everyone up to
speed on how we got the
building and what we are do-
ing to make it as up to “code”
as possible. The building is in
good shape for its age. After
we get the new ramp all sit-
uated, we can make a list of
the “cosmetic” items that can
be addressed.
I spent all morning look-
ing for a certain piece of
music in my little studio/
office area. I remember the
ensemble singing it sever-
al years ago, and thought
it would be a good time to
do it again. Never found it,
but did find the accompani-
ment CD for another one. So
guess we’ll do it instead. You
make do with what you have,
right?
Made the trip to La
Grande and got the “tube” re-
moved from my left eardrum.
Now that hole has to heal up.
Shouldn’t take very long –
the tube was about as big as
the point of a pin. My ears still
feel like they are plugged, so
he told me that any improve-
ment would have to come
from thinking “outside the
box.”
2 Corinthians 7:5-7 “…
when we came…(our) body…
had no rest … conflicts on
the outside, fears within. But
God … comforted us … by
the comfort you had given …
so that (our) joy was greater
than ever.”
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